Richa Maria Adhia (born 1 May 1988) is a Tanzanian model and beauty pageant contestant who won Miss Earth Tanzania 2006,

Miss Tanzania Miss Tanzania is a national Beauty pageant in Tanzania. History Miss Tanzania started in the 1967 and the participants for the most part were from Dar es Salaam, the winners were however not sent to compete internationally. In 1968, the governm ...

2007 and Miss India Tanzania 2010. She is the 3rd generation of Indian/ Portuguese descent with family origins from Calangute,

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

who is born and brought up in Tanzania. She represented

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

in both

Miss Earth 2006 Miss Earth 2006, the 6th edition of the Miss Earth pageant, was held on November 26, 2006, at the grounds of the National Museum in Manila, Philippines. The pageant was won by Hil Hernández of Chile and crowned by outgoing titleholder, Miss Ea ...

in the Philippines and

Miss World 2007 Miss World 2007, the 57th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 1 December 2007 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. It was hosted by Fernando Allende and Angela Chow. Zhang Zilin of China won the crown and succeeded Tať� ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. So far, she remains the only Tanzanian beauty pageant contestant to have represented her country in both of the International contests. In 2010 she was also chosen to represent Tanzania at

Miss India Worldwide Miss India Worldwide is a beauty pageant which draws contestants from India and from among members of the Indian diaspora residing in other countries. It is conducted by India Festival Committee (IFC), first founded and headed by Dharmatma Saran i ...

pageant.

Early life

Richa Adhia grew up in Mwanza, Tanzania and went to lake English Medium Primary School. She later moved to the city Dar Es Salaam and went to Shaban Robert Secondary School. Coming from humble begins, she first began working at the age of 13 and was scouted as a model at the age of 15 by well renowned fashion designer Mustafa Hassanali. This went on to become her breakthrough as a famous Indian model who walked the ramp for various designers nationally and internationally. At the age of 19, she joined the beauty pageant world and won various pageants before becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business in beauty, real estate and events management. She later founded Richa Adhia’s Foundation (RAF) which worked with the elderly to provide shelter and free eye treatments supported by IPP Media.

Miss Earth Tanzania 2006

Adhia won Miss Earth Tanzania 2006 and represented

in the Philippines where she was initially counted among the strongest contestants from Africa, after being placed among the Top 15 best swimsuit contestants. However, she was unable to make a cut into the semifinalists in the Final Show.

Miss Tanzania 2007

After completing her reign as Miss Earth Tanzania in 2006, Richa, went ahead to participate in other regional beauty contests and finally won Miss

Kinondoni Kinondoni is one of five districts in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, others being Temeke, Kigamboni, Ubungo and Ilala (downtown Dar es Salaam). To the east is the Indian Ocean, to the north and west the Pwani Region of Tanzania. The area of Kinondo ...

2007, after which she was able to participate in

2007 contest which she eventually also won. There was a controversy over her win due to her race, as she was of Indian origin. However, despite the mixed reactions, she went ahead to participate in

contest in

the same year and became the first Asian ethnic contestant to represent an

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

n country in

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

contest.

Miss India Worldwide 2010

On 6 March 2010, Richa was chosen to represent

in Miss India Worldwide 2010 contest for the first time, the contest was held in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, South Africa where she was placed among the Top Ten contestants and also won a TOP MODEL award.

Acting

In addition to being a model, TV host and an event organizer, Richa has also acted in the following movies/TV shows:

Personal life

In 2018 she married Haninder Sachdeva, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

hotelier and entrepreneur and settled in the United Kingdom where they run a hotel asset management company called Eight Continents Hotels and Resorts

References

External links

I am proudly Tanzanian – Miss Kinondoni '07
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adhia, Richa 1988 births Living people People from Mwanza Region Tanzanian female models Tanzanian beauty pageant winners Miss Earth 2006 contestants Miss World 2007 delegates Shaaban Robert Secondary School alumni Tanzanian people of Indian descent Tanzanian people of Goan descent Tanzanian film actresses Actresses of Indian descent Female models of Indian descent Tanzanian expatriates in India Tanzanian emigrants to the United Kingdom